Warrick kindergarteners start their long days of learning

EAMON QUEENEY / Special to the Courier & Press
Lynnville kindergartener Walker Pierce, 5, left, leans against the front doors of the school waiting to leave for the bus while music teacher Cherly Hess, right, gets students organized to leave school on Monday. Lynnville Elementary School is one of the Warrick County schools that has adopted full-day kindergarten, beginning this year. One issue of the new schedule is making sure the first-time school-goers get on the bus safely at the end of the day.

Eamon Queeney

EAMON QUEENEY / Special to the Courier & Press
Kindergarten teacher Carrie Walker, left, gets her students in single file lines on their way to the buses for dismissal Monday, as Walker Pierce, 5, right, leans against a mural, August 15, 2011. Lynnville Elementary School is one of the Warrick County schools that have transitioned to a full-day kindergarten, beginning this year. One issue of the new schedule is making sure the first-time school goers get on the bus safely at the end of the day.

LYNNVILLE, Ind. - Full-day kindergarten in the Warrick County School Corp. has been an adjustment for staff as well as for children.

At the end of a school day, "the kids are tired, and so are we," said Lynnville Elementary School Principal Gene Raber.

A couple of kindergarten pupils were yawning Monday as they left class about 2:40 p.m. and lined up to board buses parked in front of the school.

Kindergarten teachers Mindy Green and Carrie Walker, meanwhile, retreated to their rooms to get ready for the next day's lessons.

Full-day kindergarten is new this year in Warrick County, as well as in the Mount Vernon and North Posey school districts.

Better-than-expected revenue forecasts enabled the state to expand its grants for full-day kindergarten by $47 million, essentially making the program available to any school district that chose to offer it.

Warrick County educators said the full-day schedule makes it easier to meet the state's requirement for 90 minutes of continuous daily reading time.

They said it also allows them time for math, health, science and social studies lessons throughout the school year.

And for students who arrive without preschool experience or who struggle some with the curriculum, "we feel like this will give them the boost they need to not have such a big gap by the end of the year," Green said.

She and Walker also noted that the state's approval this year of a mandatory third-grade reading exam. Since this year's kindergarten classes throughout Indiana will be the first children to take that exam, they said the arrival of full-day kindergarten in Warrick County comes at a good time.

Lynnville and other Warrick County elementary schools are having older pupils assist new kindergarten pupils with things such as the daily lunchroom and bus routines.

Sharon Elementary School Principal Ashlee Bruggenschmidt said her school's fifth-graders are serving as kindergarten "buddies," and it's been a lesson in leadership for the older students.

Total kindergarten enrollment is about 650, up from Warrick County's normal average of about 620.

"We really kind of expected more," said Jane Wilhelmus, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "It's always kind of a gamble. Students move and in and out during the summer."

Total enrollment in the school corporation was just short of 10,000 on the first day of school, Warrick County Superintendent Brad Schneider told the School Board Monday. The official count is not released until mid-September.

The board voted to hire five additional elementary school teachers and five additional aides to help with class size issues at various schools.